Music

by Aldo Álvareztostado. Six years ago, Radiohead released In Rainbows, an album that has aged well and in that time reminded the world of the key role the British band plays nowadays, music and market-wise. Wilco released what I consider their best album so far. Alive 2007 materialized the hallucinating ride the Daft Punk experience is. Kanye’s hello to pop, Graduation, was indeed the …

What Michael Ward is listening to this week… Beyoncé Forget some of the overstatement surrounding the release of Beyoncé’s self-titled album earlier this week. It’s doing big business, for sure. But the release strategy certainly isn’t unheard of (it wasn’t even the first “visual album” dropped with no promotion this year). And Beyoncé certainly isn’t heralding the return of the …

For months it seemed as though Beyoncé had fallen off the face of the Earth. Sure, she was on a world tour, but she hadn’t released an official song or video in nearly two years. Then out of seemingly nowhere she made one of the most ambitious and daring moves in pop music history: she dropped an album with no promotion, …

When Burial (aka, William Bevan) released his masterpiece Untrue in 2007, it felt like a watershed moment. The album was universally acclaimed, wound up near the top of several “Best of the Year” lists, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. This was at a time when dubstep was still a fairly young genre — artists like Skrillex and Nero hadn’t broken …

Hi folks, the roundup is back after a week off (and announcement of Grammy nominations.) Check out what AW is listening this week… What Michael Ward is listening to this week… A Local Band: Curse of Cassandra (local being the Dayton, Ohio area) Recently, I found out one of my college professors (who, during my career as a student, …

Hi folks, the roundup took a week off but we’re back in full force. Check out what AW is listening this week and what you should be too. What George Portades is listening to this week… With this being TLC’s 20th year in the music industry, fans were rewarded with two new hits compilations (Japan’s TLC 20 and US’ 20), a reality docu-series …

What Zac Nuccio is listening to this week… Sky Ferreira / Night Time My Time After over half a decade of solid EP releases, excellent one off singles, and sustaining countless delays and obstacles, Sky Ferreira found a fitting match in producer Ariel Retchtshaid and delivered an immense album with Night Time, My Time(yes, the title’s a Twin Peaks reference). It was …

Does the world really need to revisit the dark, hellish world of Marshall Mathers? That’s the major question posed by Eminem’s sequel to the album that catapulted him to instant legend status back in 1999, even more pressing than the question about whether he made Marshall Mathers 2 for a quick cash-out. It becomes obvious after the first track that Eminem isn’t …

“I killed my former and left her in the trunk on Highway 10” begins Lady Gaga’s new album, ARTPOP. Were this anybody else, such opening lyrics might ring with a bit of finality—the artist definitively moving to a new phase. But for Gaga, it simply signals an iteration in a constant cycle of reinvention. It’s ARTPOP’s version of hatching out of an …

What George Portades is listening to this week… Yo Yo featuring Gerald Levert, “Iz It Still All Good? (Something’s On Your Mind)” Out of all the female rappers who debuted in the early 90s, Yo Yo seemed to be the one who became my favorite. I didn’t really become aware of her music until say ’96 when she hosted BET’s Rap City …

2020 Best Picture Predictions

1917 (Universal) December 25
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Sony/Columbia) November 22
Ford v. Ferrari (20th Century Fox) November 15
Harriet (Focus Features) November 1
The Irishman (Netflix)
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight) October 18
Just Mercy (Warner Bros.) January 17, 2020
The Laundromat (Netflix)
Little Women (Sony/Columbia) December 25
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (Sony/Columbia) July 26

AW is reader-supported content. Please donate if you can to keep it going!